Police prevent man from leaping off bridge

Bethlehem police Monday stopped a man from jumping off the Fahy Bridge into the Lehigh River.

Patrolman Matthew Palmer was responding to a call shortly before 6 p.m., and while he was driving across the Fahy Bridge he noticed a man standing on a small ledge on the outside of a steel fence.

Palmer said the man's arms were draped over the inside of the fence and he was holding on to the inside railing. He said the man was looking down at the river and it appeared he was going to jump off the bridge.

The patrolman said the man told him he lost his job and apartment and wanted to kill himself. He said the man refused to return to a safe position on the bridge.

Palmer continued to talk with the man until other officers arrived. He said he was about 2 feet away when Patrolmen Michael Mish and Scott Weber approached the man from behind and grabbed his arms.

Palmer said he then grabbed the man by the waist, and the three officers pulled him over the fence to safety.

Palmer said the man said he wanted to kill himself because, "He was jobless, had no place to stay and was denied help for his drug habit."

The distraught man was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, for evaluation.

It was not the first bridge rescue for Palmer.

On June 11, 1999, he and and off-duty Quakertown Patrolman Matt Molchan helped stop a 17-year-old walkaway from KidsPeace, Fountain Hill, from jumping from the Hill-to-Hill Bridge.

The officers grabbed the girl's legs and pulled her back over the barrier and onto the sidewalk.